I don't get why so many of these devices are still going with 3 USB A ports but only 1 USB C/thunderbolt port. I have a NUC8i7HVK and that comes with 2 ethernet, 2 displayport, 2 HDMI, 3 USB C/thunderbolt and 6 USB A. There has to be a happy medium between "way more than you will ever need" and "I hope you like dongles".

I'm a little surprised that flat PCs aren't more common. You basically just take a laptop motherboard and remove the keyboard, trackpad, display, and battery. Makes for a very cheap and thin PC that could easily sit beneath a monitor pretty inconspicuously.

nosirrahx:

I don't get why so many of these devices are still going with 3 USB A ports but only 1 USB C/thunderbolt port. I have a NUC8i7HVK and that comes with 2 ethernet, 2 displayport, 2 HDMI, 3 USB C/thunderbolt and 6 USB A. There has to be a happy medium between "way more than you will ever need" and "I hope you like dongles".

Well, how many USB C devices do you have that either can't be daisy-chained or only use the port for charging? Considering TB directly depends on PCIe, they come with only 1 because of limited resources. When looking up TB hubs, they are significantly more expensive. Considering most people who would use such a port might only have one or two devices that actually need it, the cost to do an internal hub just isn't worth it in most cases. The NUC you referenced is expensive for what it is, and the extra TB port is one of the reasons. This comes to one of my many gripes about USB-C - it tries to be literally universal, to the point where it's impractical, expensive, and confusing.

while i feel like 'ol Schmidtty... esp about the proliferation of differing types of USB C i went ahead last xmas and bought myself an USB hub from Juiced that is USB3.2/TB 10Gbs with three slots for power delivery. which solved the issue for me it's been worth every penny with the biggest drag being my SATA SSDs in RAID can't go over 5Gbs (if that on some reads) so the actual TB chip on that Minisforum board is really just wasted expense like you said. for work i have the full TB4 (and a workstation), for home or HTPC i just don't need that level of grunt even with RAW and video files, i just don't need the horsepower. but these are aimed at Enterprise, esp start-ups will find them attractive and cost productive just look out for that liquid metal

schmidtbag:

I'm a little surprised that flat PCs aren't more common. You basically just take a laptop motherboard and remove the keyboard, trackpad, display, and battery. Makes for a very cheap and thin PC that could easily sit beneath a monitor pretty inconspicuously. Well, how many USB C devices do you have that either can't be daisy-chained or only use the port for charging? Considering TB directly depends on PCIe, they come with only 1 because of limited resources. When looking up TB hubs, they are significantly more expensive. Considering most people who would use such a port might only have one or two devices that actually need it, the cost to do an internal hub just isn't worth it in most cases. The NUC you referenced is expensive for what it is, and the extra TB port is one of the reasons. This comes to one of my many gripes about USB-C - it tries to be literally universal, to the point where it's impractical, expensive, and confusing.

That was my point though, there has to be a happy medium. Personally, I refuse to buy a thunderbolt hub. I have 3 systems that I use on a regular basis. All 3 have 2 (or more) USB C/Thunderbolt ports and a bunch of USB A ports. All 3 are NUCs, which is what the mini-PC in question is based on.

It's a laptop on stand. Not that I'm complaining tho, I quite like the design.

Ivrogne:

It's a laptop on stand. Not that I'm complaining tho, I quite like the design.

I kind of do too, which is why I am annoyed that it doesn't have 2 Thunderbolt ports.

schmidtbag:

I'm a little surprised that flat PCs aren't more common. You basically just take a laptop motherboard and remove the keyboard, trackpad, display, and battery. Makes for a very cheap and thin PC that could easily sit beneath a monitor pretty inconspicuously.

The main reason is that it will probably be a lot louder (which is a no-no for any respectable HTPC) and somewhat more expensive than a fatter design (it's no coincidence that 15"/16" laptops are usually cheaper than their 13"/14" equivalent counterparts). Personally can't wait to get a small (15-25W) but powerful Phoenix Point (Zen 4 + RDNA 3) to replace my laptop as an HTPC.

heffeque:

The main reason is that it will probably be a lot louder (which is a no-no for any respectable HTPC) and somewhat more expensive than a fatter design (it's no coincidence that 15"/16" laptops are usually cheaper than their 13"/14" equivalent counterparts). Personally can't wait to get a small (15-25W) but powerful Phoenix Point (Zen 4 + RDNA 3) to replace my laptop as an HTPC.

Not necessarily. When it's still a desktop PC, you can make the footprint wider for more cooling capacity.

schmidtbag:

Not necessarily. When it's still a desktop PC, you can make the footprint wider for more cooling capacity.

Those look like laptop fans... I'm fairly certain that they are screamers when gaming, etc.

heffeque:

Those look like laptop fans... I'm fairly certain that they are screamers when gaming, etc.

Thin fans that cover a lot of area tend to be.

nosirrahx:

Thin fans that cover a lot of area tend to be.

My point exactly.